Michelin technology is providing NASA astronauts with an incredibly smooth ride up Pennsylvania Avenue for 56th presidential inauguration celebration. Michelin North America is teaming up with NASA to show off the next generation of moon rover vehicles.
During the Inaugural Parade celebrating the inauguration of Barack Obama, the 56th President of the United States, NASA astronauts will pilot the Small Pressurized Lunar Rover, which is fitted with a specially engineered MICHELIN TWEEL(R) assembly.
The Small Pressurized Lunar Rover, NASA’s latest lunar rover prototype, will roll from the U.S. Capitol to the White House on the MICHELIN TWEEL(R) non-pneumatic tire/wheel assembly, which was named one of Time magazine’s innovations of the year in 2005. As a result of this engineering breakthrough, NASA helped fund a project for Michelin to develop a highly specialized Lunar Wheel for the space agency’s latest collection of moon rover vehicles.
Introduced in 2008, the MICHELIN Lunar Wheel withstands extreme conditions while maintaining flexibility and constant ground contact pressure that enables moon rovers to traverse loose soil and lunar craters. It also has a low mass yet maintains a high load capacity that is 3.3 times more efficient than the original Apollo Lunar Rover wheels.
Designed to provide astronauts with mobility over extreme terrain, the Small Pressurized Lunar Rover features 12 wheels driven by two electric motors through a two-speed transmission, allowing it to perform in “bulldozer” mode with up to 4000 pounds of force or cruise at up to 20 kilometers per hour. The modular design also means that the tubular frame can be fitted with several different crew and payload combinations, including the crew cabin that attaches to the rover’s chassis to form the Small Pressurized Lunar Rover configuration.
In addition to engineering wheels for the Small Pressurized Lunar Rover, Michelin has developed Lunar Wheels for NASA’s ATHLETE moon rover designed by Jet Propulsion Laboratory, as well as for the Scarab moon rover. Both are unmanned lunar vehicles designed to perform various tasks on the moon.
Dedicated to the improvement of sustainable mobility, Michelin designs, manufactures and sells tires for every type of vehicle, including airplanes, automobiles, bicycles, earthmovers, farm equipment, heavy-duty trucks, motorcycles and the space shuttle. The company also publishes travel guides, hotel and restaurant guides, maps and road atlases. Headquartered in Greenville, S.C., Michelin North America (www.michelin-us.com) employs more than 22,300 and operates 19 major manufacturing plants in 17 locations.